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This is a little long..sorry but there are lots of details...

Some of you may remember me posting about my 3 year old daughters swollen tonsils back around the middle of May. Well we FINALLY got into an ENT doc on Wednesday. (They have now been HUGELY swollen for almost 7 weeks) We saw a doc in Hampton Oaks Med Plaza just behind the Oaks Mall area. He said on a scale of 1-4, 1 being normal and 4 being the worst she was a 4. He decided to put her on this antibiotic, clindamycin(brand name is Cleocin), because he feels like it may be an underlying, nondetected bacterial infection causing the tonsils to swell. He also mentioned to me to be sure she ate alot of yogurt while using this drug. The plan is if the tonsils are still swollen when the antibiotic is done to do a sleep study to see if her newly aquired snoring is any form of apnea and if it is then they will most likely go ahead and remove the tonsils. ( He also mentioned to me that if when we came back in our follow-up visit in 14 days that if her tonsils were not significantly better than he wanted to rule out any lymphomas also!!). Anyway...I had never used this antibiotic before so I did some research Wed night before starting her on it. Well I found out that this is a drug they use on the really strong strains of staph infection that no other antibiotic will kill. It is tough on the digestive system and can lead to a condition that causes you to get very ill due to all the 'good' bacteria in your intestines to be killed off from this antibiotic and then the 'bad' bacteria takes over. This condition is called Clostridium difficile or c-diff. So on Thursday morning I called my pediatrician and we talked for about 40 min and she told me that eating yogurt probably isn't enough and that I needed to get a pro-biotic from the pharmacy to go along with her having the Cleocin, which I have done. This pro-biotic helps to maintain the level of 'good' bacteria in your system. My ped also said to go ahead and bring her in yesterday and lets do a blood panel on her and rule out any lymphoms now and also get a white blood cell count along with about 12 other tests she did. (She knows me and knew I was secretly FREAKING at the word lymphoma). So I am waiting by the phone today to get the results of the bloodwork, (most of them will be in today). I also started her on the truly rank tasting Cleocin along with the probiotic which comes in the form of little tiny granuals that I put in her applesauce this morning that she didn't even notice. So here I sit watching her like an eagle for signs of c-diff and praying that all bloodwork comes back normal.

Any advice out there?? Have any of you all used this Clindamycin/Cleocin before??

This message has been edited. Last edited by: klmorg,

I do not have any experience w/ the drug you are referring to. However, I have plenty of experience "freaking out" and want to let you know that my thoughts are with you. Also, congratulations on doing your research! I do not know how Moms were able to raise kids before the internet! Keep us updated.

I just got off the phone with her pediatrician and from the tests results in so far everything looks normal...THANK GOD....

Now to just get through the remaining tests results that will be piling in next week. Her white blood cell count is good though and thats a BIG plus in her favor.

I've never used clindamycin/cleocin before. I'm glad that you did your research and talked to your daughter's pediatrician. What a relief that the first set of tests came back normal! I hope the rest do, too. How is your daughter feeling? Is it both tonsils? Does she have trouble swallowing or breathing? Keep us posted!

Hi Marianne;

Yes it is both tonsils and she complains of a sore throat here and there. She has started snoring since the tonsils swelled up...that is why if they do not go down with this antibiotic they will do a sleep test to determine if it is causing sleep apnea with her in which case they will remove the tonsils. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it swallowing. She acts ok other than a sore neck from the swelling and a sore throat sometimes. Thanks for the support. I'll keep you all updated.

Karen

Wow you did more research than me. I had no idea that Clindamycin could lead to c-diff. My aunt had that and it is definitely not something I would want. I have, however, used Clindamyacin (twice I think) and have had no ill effects from it. It did its job and I felt much better after using it but you are right, it tastes terrible. I hope it works for your daughter.

I don't think any of my children have used Clindamycin, but we have used probiotics when they are on antibiotics. I think probiotics are awesome! Glad to hear the tests turned out great and I hope you are able to relax a little knowing your daughter's white blood cell count is good. I think the most weary part of being a mom is worrying about our children, and of course we do, because we love them so much!